I like the aesthetics of a wood staff of some sort but I think an adjustable aluminum trekking pole is infinitely more useful. Mine is something I got from REI years ago and has a ball head made from cork. It comes off to reveal a stud that will hold a camera.

I live in high desert country and at 59 stick to easier terrain than I once did. I like the feeling of security a trekking pole gives me and, with the lack of trees where I walk, I have an easy way to rig my tarp for a shelter if the need arose. I suppose it could be used as a thrusting weapon what with a carbide tip but I usually have a firearm with me in any event.

I really need to get a couple more as they should reside in any vehicle (we have 4) along with a basic kit of essentials in a small pack of some sort (each vehicle has one but I have to move the pole to whichever one I'm driving.

Treking poles for me. Crossing streams, or a fallen log suspended over a stream is so much easier with them - especially when wearing a pack.

And when in the "rocky" parts of the Rocky Mountains where some of the climbs are more stair-like than trail they really help too. More with coming down than going up, but even going up they help quite a bit.

And those loose scree slopes with lots of small rocks and gravel? You choose - a rock sanded butt as you slip and slide down, or four-legged trekking pole stability and a pristine backside once you get down.

They do not work well in boulder fields though. They stick, snag, and cause all kinds of havoc. Don't even try it!

5' rattan bo with a rubber foot at each end, and strategically placed gorilla tape. or this.
or, if i find myself wandering "unprepared," whatever hefty stick catches my eye when i realize my error.

Ah yes! I was trekking all over San Miguel Island in slippery winter conditions, with a wrist that was barely healed from a bike spill and I realized I desperately needed a hiking staff, unless I really wanted to screw up my wrist again with another tumble.

Then, walking along a beautiful sandy beach, there appeared a cast up mop handle. Once I had sanded off a few globs of tar, it became the best walking staff ever, and served for subsequent treks on SMI for years after.

You can find amazing things on beaches (just to hijack the thread a bit) - edible food, unopened soft drinks, working flashlights (waterproof, of course), hard hats, marine charts, unexpended phosphorus flares (that was exciting) and messages in a bottle (several). No mermaids, though.....

I tried them once, years ago, and was hooked immediately. My knees have had too many years of punishment, and they help a lot with that. I use some REI collapsible ones with the flik-lok device, they work great. I take only one when dayhiking, both when hiking overnight-multiday.

Here in the White Mountains of NH, hiking is very popular on the thousands of miles of maintained trails. One problem with the poles is that they are causing massive erosion of the trails.

As you hike a popular trail, look closely at the ground - you will see a myriad of holes that have been poked into the soil by the tips of the poles. Soil is loosened, churned up. The next rain washes the soil away. The next day more hikers and more poles. Later on more rain. Cycle after cycle.

The result has been that for many miles the trails have become pathways of exposed tree roots and rocks, and the trails are often even a foot or several feet below grade. You are walking in a trough.

As a youth in the 1970's hiking poles were uncommon. Sometimes hikers might use a stick, but that has a different effect on the ground. For some reason since then the hiking poles have become commonplace (I think it is partially the "cool factor" of looking the part of "hiker", the erosion problem is enormous, and I have taken to bushwhacking off-trail instead of using what I feel is a damaged trail system.

Easy solution - use the rubber tip caps. If it's really an issue I would think signage would caution people to not use the carbide tips on popular trails. This is the first time I've ever heard of such a complaint.

As a follow-up to my post above, I looked at who made my REI hiking staff. It's from Komperdell and REI calls it the "Guide Staff". I really prefer the ball head on these over what you see on most poles. I got two more for my kids. What's great about these is the height adjustability for people of all sizes.

REI Komperdell Guide Staff

And the accompanying boots did nothing to remove soil and incise the trail? If you have lots of people in an environment and on a trail, there will be impacts.....

Single hiking stick with removable cork top - there is a screw stud to accommodate cameras to act as a monopod. I wrapped a construction grade plastic bag around the lower portion of the handle /w 35' of 550 cord and 20' of SS wire. Below that I have duct tape wrapped around the pole (length unknown but I am guessing 25' plus). At one time I also had some aquarium tubing wrapped around the stick but had difficulty keeping it secured in place.

Hiking pole has on optional basket for marshy areas or occassional snow.

I am looking at going with 2 hiking sticks instead of just one to find out if it is any easier on my shoulders.

Humans, indeed every animal, has an impact on the terrain. It isn't just the scuffing and plowing effects of traffic. A lot of damage is a result of simple compaction.

I some types of soil the tendency is that rain soaks in but remains dispersed. This water only very slowly migrates downhill. If you pound down a path in the direction of even a very shallow slope the water will tend to slow toward the path and then preferentially use the compacted path to travel down the slope. This flow becomes a steady stream when it rains and the stream cuts the path deeper. In some soils a small path can become a gaping gully in a matter of days if the rain is heavy.

The only way around this is to recognize the relative delicacy of some areas and to limit the numbers of people who travel through it, to establish some way to make sure people don't follow the same path, or to get people to avoid the area entirely.